Compare your separate collision and comprehensive policy costs, deductibles, and total-loss payment examples before changing physical-damage coverage.
Claim exposure
Ownership status
Table of contents
How to use our Collision and Comprehensive Coverage Cost and Risk Calculator
- Choose the Premium period shown on your policy that appears beside your collision and comprehensive premium lines.
- Copy the separate amounts for Collision premium ($ for selected period) and Comprehensive premium ($ for selected period); do not use your whole policy premium.
- Enter each deductible, your Estimated vehicle value ($), and answer Do you have a loan or lease?.
- Select Calculate, then compare the four coverage choices and the two deductible-based total-loss payment examples.
- Sanity-check that the annual cost equals each entered policy-period premium multiplied by the selected number of periods per year, and check loan or lease terms before dropping coverage.
Definitions
Collision coverage: Physical-damage coverage for damage from a crash with another vehicle or object, subject to the policy terms and deductible. [2]
Comprehensive coverage: Physical-damage coverage for losses other than collision, such as theft or some weather damage, subject to the policy terms and deductible. It may be called Other Than Collision or Comp. [2]
Deductible: The amount subtracted from a covered claim payment before the insurer pays the remaining covered amount.
Premium period: The time period covered by the premium shown on the policy, such as one month, six months, or one year.
Total loss: A claim where the vehicle is treated as a loss rather than repaired. This calculator uses one estimated vehicle value for a simple payment example.
Common mistakes and quick fixes
Mistake: Entering the full auto-policy bill in Collision premium ($ for selected period).
Fix: Copy only the separate Collision line; liability, medical coverage, fees, and add-ons are excluded.
Mistake: Choosing Monthly when the declarations page shows a 6-month premium.
Fix: Match Premium period shown on your policy to the period printed next to both premium lines.
Mistake: Treating Collision deductible ($ per covered claim) as a yearly cost.
Fix: Enter the amount you would pay for one covered collision claim, not an annual premium.
Mistake: Assuming Estimated vehicle value ($) is a guaranteed claim settlement.
Fix: Use a current planning estimate and treat Estimated collision total-loss payment after deductible as a simplified example.
Mistake: Dropping coverage after answering Yes or Not sure to Do you have a loan or lease?
Fix: Check the loan or lease agreement, lender portal, and policy requirements before changing either coverage.
Limitations & Key Assumptions / Boundary Conditions
- Annual costs include only the entered collision and comprehensive premium lines. They exclude liability, medical, uninsured-motorist coverage, fees, discounts, and other add-ons.
- The calculator assumes both entered premium lines use the same selected policy period.
- Total-loss payments are simplified estimates: estimated vehicle value minus the applicable deductible, with a minimum of $0. Actual settlements can depend on valuation, policy terms, coverage limits, liens, taxes, claim facts, and state rules.
- A deductible applies only to a covered claim. This calculator does not estimate the chance, timing, or type of a future claim.
- Keeping one coverage and dropping the other may not be available under every policy or lender agreement. A loan or lease can require physical-damage coverage.
- The default deductible values are editable California planning examples, not required amounts for every driver or policy. [1]
Methodology
Annual policy cost
The calculator first changes each policy-period premium into an annual amount using the selected period: 12 entries for monthly, 2 for a 6-month term, or 1 for an annual term.
Annual collision premium = Collision premium x periods per year
Annual comprehensive premium = Comprehensive premium x periods per year
Annual premium for keeping both coverages = Annual collision premium + Annual comprehensive premium
The keep-collision-only scenario uses the annual collision premium. The keep-comprehensive-only scenario uses the annual comprehensive premium. The drop-both scenario uses $0 for these two entered premium lines. Each savings figure is the keep-both annual cost minus that scenario cost.
Total-loss examples
Each example subtracts the matching deductible from the estimated vehicle value. A negative payment is changed to $0 because this simplified claim-payment example cannot be negative.
Estimated collision total-loss payment = max(Estimated vehicle value - Collision deductible, 0)
Estimated comprehensive total-loss payment = max(Estimated vehicle value - Comprehensive deductible, 0)
Worked example
For a 6-month term, a $300 collision premium and $120 comprehensive premium become $600 and $240 per year. Keeping both costs $840 per year, while dropping both saves $840 per year. With a $10,000 vehicle value, a $500 collision deductible gives a simplified collision payment example of $9,500; a $250 comprehensive deductible gives $9,750.